How to balance weigth loss/calories and breastfeeding?

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I am 4 months pp with my second child. I really want to lose the 45 lbs (yikes!) I've managed to gain through the course of 3 years and 2 pregnancies. I am exclusively breastfeeding, and do not have many opportunities to exercise. I am just stuck on how many calories I should be consuming. I would really love to see a significant loss by summer, while still being able to safely continue breastfeeding. Are there any moms out there that were able to lose weight while breastfeeding? Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Here's to a new year!

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  • blissfulbutt
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    I'm also 4months pp (with my 3rd bio-child, I also have step-kids). I'm exclusivly breastfeeding too. Everything I've read states we should consume 2000 cal a day. Breastfeeding itself burns 800-1000 a day. so I factor all that in. I actually have trouble getting the 2000 a day most days. But I exercize to lose weight. usually with the baby in her carrier. I'll worry about diet when I'm not a food sorce myself lol. add me as a friend if you like, it would be nice to have another bf momma to talk to.
  • amycakes812
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    I am 7 months pp, and still breastfeeding. My little guy is starting to eat solids, but still gets the majority of his food from me. The studies I have seen all say breastfeeding burns an average of 500 calories per day. Basically, I put in how much I want to lose, got the minimun 1200 per day, and added 400 back in to account for the lower end of breastfeeding (typically the span is 380-700). In order to add the calories back in, I put it in my log as exercise (yes, I know it is't physical, but those calories have to be added back in somehow to account for milk production) I actually just had someone call me out on using that as exercise.
  • Jess3742a
    Jess3742a Posts: 18 Member
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    Thanks for the advise ladies! Glad to know I'm not alone! I want to lose this weight so bad, but want to do it the healthiest way possible for the both of us! I have read a bunch of conflicting information, so I guess I will just be learning as I go what works best.
  • jilliew
    jilliew Posts: 255 Member
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    I'm no mother or anything, but I do know that you can log breast-feeding in your food dairy and it adjusts your calories. :)
  • Jess3742a
    Jess3742a Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm no mother or anything, but I do know that you can log breast-feeding in your food dairy and it adjusts your calories. :)

    How would I do that?
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
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    I'm also 4months pp (with my 3rd bio-child, I also have step-kids). I'm exclusivly breastfeeding too. Everything I've read states we should consume 2000 cal a day. Breastfeeding itself burns 800-1000 a day. so I factor all that in. I actually have trouble getting the 2000 a day most days. But I exercize to lose weight. usually with the baby in her carrier. I'll worry about diet when I'm not a food sorce myself lol. add me as a friend if you like, it would be nice to have another bf momma to talk to.

    I'm breastfeeding my 4th child who is 15 months old today. I have read as much as I can online and found most resources to say that moms who are exclusively breastfeeding should increase calories by 300-500 calories per day and not go below 1800 or so. I lost most of my pregnancy weight (all four times) within 4-5 months but then hung onto the last 10 lbs (and whatever I had gained between pregnancies) longer and had to work harder. Once the babies were nursing less I started to gain again, which is what I am trying to avoid right now.

    I started MFP in February or March of last year and set my calories to 1700-1750. I am short with a low BMR so felt comfortable going below that 1800 mark. I just started back and am not sure what to have my calories at since DS is still nursing but not exclusively. Right now I have them at 1700 and will see how that goes. I also used the calculation that a lot of people use (TDEE - 20%) then adding 500 for BF. I would not add much more than 500 for breastfeeding, though.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
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    There are a few ways to account for breastfeeding. You can search "breastfeeding" under food or activity and then choose how many calories you want. This will subtract those calories from your total (similar to what logging exercise does). I chose to just adjust my daily calorie intake so that I get a better/less confusing picture of what my macronutrients look like. It was just easier for me to do it that way. The only down side is that when you finish your log at the end of the day the "You would weigh" number is way off (it probably would be anyway!) since it is thinking you are eating too many calories. I just ignore that. :)
  • dinomomma
    dinomomma Posts: 264 Member
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    I personally used this to calculate http://www.freedieting.com/tools/breastfeeding_calorie_calculator.htm then I looked here to see if it was close to my TDEE and it is http://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator
  • dinomomma
    dinomomma Posts: 264 Member
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  • Jess3742a
    Jess3742a Posts: 18 Member
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    Thank you both! Your posts have seriously helped a lot!